The 4th XI play in Division 3 West of the Surrey Championship, after winning the league and being promoted in in 2021 and 2022.
The intention of our 4th XI is to blend a healthy mix of ‘seasoned veterans’ with an abundance of youth making their first steps in to adult cricket. All 4th XI home matches will be played at Imber Court.
In 2024, John Woollhead (johnwoollhead61@gmail.com, 07836 248848) will captain the 4th XI.
4th XI – Season Report – 2023 (Chris Burton)
2023 had its ups and downs for the Esher 4th team, finishing in 4th place in the league with 9 wins and 5 losses, wondering what may have been with a drier summer, having suffered 4 rained off fixtures and being 2 wins from our third promotion in a row.
In typical Esher 4s fashion we were reliant on the dads’ army mobilising in May and June and used 66 players across the season with a variety of new and old faces, testimony to the size and breadth of the club.
Lakshan Thamel (who finished leading run scorer) and Jon Sturges were very welcome new additions, both contributing with bat and ball, while former captains Al Mason and Henry Witten made entertaining returns.
Various impressive batting displays occurred, notably centuries by Darren Helwick and U14 Will Hamilton (his first in adult league cricket) and 50s shared around by U14 Josh Kavia (2), Darren Helwick, Sachin Patel, Chris Burton, Tom Chandler, Jon Sturges, Lakshan Thamel and John Woollhead.
Chris Parrish (12 @ 12.46) and Tom Burnett (12 @ 22.67) led the way for wickets with match turning figures and Navik Mendis (10 @ 8.9) bowled some particularly devastating spells.
Notable highlights through the season included Chris Harvey opening the bowling against Epsom, taken off after 2 (no) balls and then returning with four wickets in his impressive second ‘spell’, Brandon Forward keeping the crowd on their toes against Teddington with a 13 ball over that included two wickets and Tom Burnett’s mane running the gauntlet, dodging various bullets until the last game of the season, when ‘father of the club’ John Woollhead, in true ‘hold my beer’ style, missed a couple of buckets in the nets and then defied the odds to hit his first post covid 50.
It was incredibly heartening and rewarding to see so many fantastically talented YCs come through the system, particularly given the spirit they played with. In addition to those mentioned above, valuable contributions were also made by Jayden Forward, Rohan de Silva, Henry Harrison, Ben French, Aayan Shabbir, Adam Helwick and Orson Jones.
A special mention should also go to esteemed clubman Sachin Patel, who literally saved a life on the boundary, serving as a great reminder of how fragile life can be and how we should make the most of it while we’re here.
4th XI player of the season
Player of the season was deservedly Will Hamilton, finishing the season averaging 55 with the bat and even chipping in with a couple of wickets. All in all a highly enjoyable season with many tight matches and we look forward to 2024.
